David Carson: (Hidden) Hero of the week.

A month before the Salone starts, so I have decided to update my blog....

Being a Brazilian, therefore one of 200 million superstitious happy people, I have decided to start blogging with the right foot. Literally. In Brazil, before stepping on the beach, we make sure we do so with our right foot, in order to have a safe and enjoyable day in the sun. It is a conscious step.

And who better than David Carson, professional surfer turned sociologist, turned graphic designer, turned innovative magazine designer, turned art director, and all other definitions one can find by Googling David, to be my sunshine, if only for 5 minutes?

Bombay Sapphire held its 20th Inspirational Design Happening event in Padua this weekend. David was the speaker, vigorously flipping his slides with incredible images and amazing stories, connecting visual communication with emotional response.

After the presentation, journalists had some time with him. I am a political scientist, turned account manager, turned designer agent, turned weekend freelance writer (ok, nothing as exciting as David’s qualification as the 9th best surfer in the world, but bear with me) and my editor wasn’t very interested on my suggestion on an article on this event. So I just sat and thought: what can I ask him that nobody else will? ‘What inspires you? - How old were you when you first realized that you wanted to redesign the world of typography? - What is next? – What would you say to young graphic designers? – What is your favorite food?’.

Puff… As I saw all other journalists spending precious 20 minutes with David, I started to feel like a party crasher, someone who came along for the free cocktail.

Then it was my turn.

I walked to him as a cow walks to the slaughter house. I managed to steal a Frame magazine copy from the studio the event was being held at, in order to give me some credibility. ‘He will think I am a joke’.

So that is how it went, more or less, since I didn’t have a recorder with me:

‘FV: Hi David, My name is Fabiana and I am a freelance writer for Frame and Elephant magazines.

DC: Hi.

FV: David, why were you late?

DC: What do you mean?

FV: We had to wait for over 1 hour for you. I saw you working on your computer…

DC: Oh yeah. Well, one of those days. I decided to finish my presentation on the plane but my computer ran out of battery so I couldn’t finish it. I am not very good with technology. And everyone here who tried to help me finish the presentation actually knew less than I do about PowerPoint. It was a mess.

FV: On your TED presentation you showed an image of Hitler’s 1932 election poster. You spoke about how powerful an image can be. No written message, just a swastika and Adolf Hitler’s name. For sure that is a powerful message now, for the wrong reasons, and I am not sure what sort of message this visual stimulation was able to deliver at the time, but have you ever checked out the poster from the other candidates at the time?

DC: Very good question… no, I haven’t. Would be interesting to have them all to check out how politicians were communicating at the time. We know Hitler had a good propaganda strategy and his posters were always very impressive.

What we can say for now is that, apparently with some reluctance, Obama has understood the power of simple, clear images. And it has made him score.

FV: Why do you have two watches?

DC: Why not?

FV: Thanks David. I won’t take more of your time. You will have now a real journalist wth you, from Rolling Stone magazine.

DC: Stick around.’

So, it wasn’t so bad, and the Hitler question was pretty agitating I thought.

I got home and went straight to my computer to look for images of pre and post 1931 German election posters. Quite an interesting subject, but should be left for the specialists to debate. Then for more interesting, uplifting material, I spent a couple of hours reading about David’s achievements and his work.

Living in Milan, a city where everyone is fighting for their 15 seconds of fame, for getting that rich husband, or the next outlet sales of famous brand they can’t afford, so they can get the rich husband, it was an honor to meet someone so down to Earth, friendly, and yet so influential. Last time I met someone like that was Elio Fiorucci, another extraordinary human being who I am lucky enough to have as a friend. Fiorucci is the proud father of two little angels with sunglasses, the precursor of Brazilian bikinis, and tight, very tight jeans. He has changed fashion, and David has changed graphics.

David is one of those heroes who changed the world without having to point a gun at anyone’s head. Think about it: how many images are you bombarded with each day? And now, how dear can you think about David, realizing that he has actually improved your quality of life by teaching the world how to deliver better messages through simpler images? See my point? I’ll drink to that!

So this is the first step to our Salone exhibition, an inspirational talk with a surfer.

More about his work check out his site:

http://www.davidcarsondesign.com and http://www.ted.com/speakers/david_carson.html .